Puppies, ambulances meet for specialty training
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A lot goes into training puppies to become service dogs. Two Grand Rapids organizations teamed up Wednesday to help.
Life EMS and Paws With A Cause held an event at the ambulance service’s headquarters in Grand Rapids to expose about a dozen puppies to the sights and sounds of ambulances.
“It’s all about getting them comfortable in an ambulance. If their client had an emergency, they want to be prepared and confident and able to deal with that situation where they can be transported with their client,” Sidney Baxter, the communications manager for Paws With A Cause, said.
One of the future service dogs who attended the training was a 10-month-old golden retriever named Abel. He was brought by his current owners, Dale and Ellie Devries. Abel and the rest of the puppies in the class got the chance to explore a real ambulance, see the flashing lights and hear the sirens to make it a less foreign experience.
“We wanted to get him a little used to more people and maybe activities, maybe a siren, who knows,” Ellie Devries said.
“Just see how he reacts,” Dale Devries said
The Devries plan to train Abel over the next few months until he is ready to move on to more advanced schooling to become a service animal. Events like this help them realize that Abel will be doing great things with his life.
“Like our granddaughter put it, ‘Yeah, but he’s going to help somebody,’ and that’s what you look at,” Dale Devries said.
But this event isn’t just about the dogs. Mark Meijer, the president of Life EMS, talked about how important this is to the EMTs who come into work day after day.
“It’s a great opportunity for our folks to lower their blood pressure. Nothing does that more than the Paws With A Cause dogs,” Meijer said.
This isn’t the only training seminar that Paws With A Cause puts on during the year. It works with volunteer trainers to bring the animals to other public places where they can get used to new environments like a park or even a library. You can learn more about how to help the organization by clicking here.
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